A Little Advice Goes A Long Way
by paea101
Summary: Jake Stone gives Cassandra some much needed advice for spending time with her family for the holidays. This is my first fanfic ever. I hope it's OK!


"Ring...Ring...Ring..."

"Hey Cass, you gonna get that?" Jake asked. He was sitting on the floor, his back pressed against the couch and a worn out and battered copy of The Odyssey perched on his lap.

Cassandra was sitting on the couch with her legs tucked underneath her and a slight wrinkle in her forehead as she completed a logic puzzle that Flynn had left lying around The Annex.

"Ring...Ring...Ring..."

Jake tried once again.

"Cassie, either answer your phone or turn it off"

"Huh?" Cassandra looked up at him from her puzzle with a confused look on her face. She had obviously blocked out the persistent ringing while she was caught up in her puzzle.

"The phone... are you gonna get it or not?" He asked as he gestured towards her phone that was sitting on the side table next to her and it was still blaring. Cassandra jumped and grabbed the phone sheepishly.

"Sorry, I was completely caught up in the puzzle I didn't he-" Her voiced drifted off as she caught sight of her who was trying to contact her. A look of conflict passed over her face as she wondered whether to answer it or not. She clutched the phone to her chest and turned it off. She put the phone back onto the table and resumed her puzzle. She was completely oblivious to the fact that Jake was still staring at her, maybe she forgot he was still there.

"So who was that Cass? they seemed pretty determined to get a hold of you" He asked as he put his bookmark into the book and placed it onto the floor next to him. He set his questioning eyes onto her and waited for her to reply.

"Oh it was no one"

"Really because it seemed like they knew who they were trying to get" he countered her answer with his own.

"Fine, if you must know, that was my Mother" Cassandra rushed through quickly trying to get the words out as fast as possible.

"Your Mother? As in the woman that you havent talked to for what.. Five years now?" He had thought that he had misheard her.

"Yes that would be the one" She replied "She has been calling me for the past four days but I just can't bring myself to answer the phone" she sounded defeated.

"Well why not Cass?" Jake was confused. "How could she not possibly want to talk to her own mother" he thought.

Cassandra slowly slid her pen between the pages of her puzzle book and closed it. She leaned forward and clasped her hands infront of her. Trying to find the right words to say, she looked at Jake, her hands mingling with each others.

"Jake, the last time I talked to my parents, I had to look at the disappointment on their faces as they found out that their daughter wouldn't live long enough to find the cure for cancer or discover a new theory pertaining to Einstein's theories of the universe. To see all their hopes crushed...it broke my heart and that is why I don't talk to them, they need to get used to their lives without me." He could see the pain on her face and the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Cass, you know that it isn't your fault...right? You didn't ask to get sick and it was unfair of them to pin all of their hopes and dreams on you" he moved off of the floor and sat next to her on the couch. She was looking away from him so that he couldn't see the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Cassie, talk to them" He put his arm around her and pulled her into his chest. "Look, I could write a book about being the family disappointment and do you know what? Maybe someday I will..." she let out snort at that "...but I do know that your parents obviously want to talk to you and maybe it's to make amends but you will never know if you don't answer"

She had stopped sniffling at that point and looked up at him. "Jake, they said some pretty horrible things to me before I left." She wriggled out from under his arm and sat up. "This is supposed to be my last Christmas, the only reason that they are calling me is to make sure that they have a clear conscience once I...you know. ..leave"

"So then be better than they were Cassie, show them that you are more than who you were five years ago. Show them that it was their loss when they gave up on you. Tell them where you have been and tell them about the incredible things that you have seen, okay well maybe not all of them, but most of them. You have a chance to be the bigger person, so take it"

Cassandra looked into his eyes and she could see the conviction behind everyone of his words. "It's going to be hard to say goodbye to him when I have to go." She thought. The tears had dried on her face and she could practically feel the puffiness of her eyes but she didn't care. She brought her hand up and rested it on Jakes jaw, her thumb stroking his cheekbone as he leaned into her hand.

"Thank you." She whispered with a small smile and with that, she turned from the couch, picked up her phone from the side table and left the room.

A week later, she was standing at the doors with her packed bags, that would allow her to go from Portland to her parents house in New York. She was going to spend a couple of days with them before returning to the Annex before New Years Eve. She had managed to smooth over things with her parents when they insisted on seeing her and inviting her to stay for a while. Cassandra thought long and hard about it and with some insistence from Jake, she had agreed.

While waiting for Jenkins to spin the globe and direct the door back to NY, Cassandra turned back to Jake and gave him a big smile. "Without your help, I would still be too frightened to answer the phone so thank you."

He moved towards her and enveloped her in a huge bear hug. "No problem darlin' I'm here to help."

"Miss Cillian, if you would like to go through the portal now as I cannot hold it open for much longer" Jenkins called over from the double doors.

Jake released her and went to pick up her bags. Cassandra said goodbye to the others and then giddily walked through the portal back home to her parents.


End file.
